Against the tide

When Friedrich Nietzsche dared pen the words "God is dead" in 1881, some crickets chirped. A critic yawned.Perhaps he was just writing before his time.

When Friedrich Nietzsche dared pen the words "God is dead" in 1881, some crickets chirped. A critic yawned.

Despite his later influence, scholars say, Nietzsche was not highly regarded before his death in 1890. But nowadays, critiques of religion, his specialty, are popular.

Just check out the New York Times bestseller list.

Christopher Hitchens' God is not Great spent the past 16 weeks in the top five of the list after making its debut in the top spot. Still ranked among best sellers, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins is holding out in the top 30 despite being published last September. Other prominent authors include Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett.

According to activists, this band of atheist authors heralds a turning point in American society -- when the irreligious stand up and take their place at the table of political power.

The success of these authors is directly proportional to the dramatic rise in religious conservatism and public piety in national politics, said Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry, a magazine published by the Council for Secular Humanism.

"With (President) Bush trumpeting his faith-based initiatives in the face of the separation of church and state, you have a lot of those in the nonbelieving community who feel their civil liberties are in danger," Flynn said.

Add that to the growing number of American atheists and you have a recipe for political activism, he added.

Record numbers of people are living without God, according to a Pew Charitable Trust study conducted by researchers at the University of Akron for the 2004 presidential race.

The study found the highest share of people yet, 16 percent, who said they had no religious affiliation. Some of those were actually nonspecific spiritual seekers or people between denominations, but almost 11 percent of the respondents said they were atheist or secular.

"And if you know anything about minority politics, 10 percent is the magic number," Flynn said. "All of a sudden, you have a place at the table. I think that has a lot to do with the sudden popularity of atheism and these books."

But the Rev. Martin Marty, an author, Lutheran minister and professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School, said just because the books reveal a cultural current in America, don't expect a march on Washington.

The history of the various agnostic and atheist movements in this country, he said, is one of a failure to organize.

"Religions have the power to form groups," Marty said. "When you look at the intellectual expression of atheism, it is very individualistic."

The run-of-the-mill atheist is less concerned with the trappings of religion than its political influence, said Marilyn Westfall, a lecturer and board member of the American Humanist Association.

She said there is genuine concern about the strength of the religious right in this country.

"It seems that humans have gone through cycles in which religious fervor must be opposed for the sake of ethics," Westfall said.

Amy Birtcher has seen this thought reflected in Columbus. As president of the Humanist Community of Central Ohio, she has watched the organization's numbers swell from the historic average of about 40 to almost 100 in the past two years.

She said people are turning to atheist authors' works because they validate what they have been thinking for a long time.

"New members tell us quite regularly that the Bush administration and the current wave of conservative politics brought them out of the closet," Birtcher said.

Still, she said, atheists remain one of the most maligned minority groups in the United States. Political polls reveal that people are less likely to vote for a nonbeliever than for a homosexual, she said.

"A lot of people are afraid," Birtcher said. "They can't tell their families. They can't tell their co-workers because they fear real reprisal."

The Rev. Richard Burnett, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church Downtown, said he can understand how invocations of the divine by public officials can feel alienating to unbelievers, though unintentionally.

Having read Hitchens' book, Burnett said it's a good read for Christians, if only to help reaffirm their belief. He suspects that the book's best-seller status is due in part to the faithful trying to find out "what the devil it's all about."

"When we are honest with each other, I think there's a great potential to find truth," Burnett said about the dialogue the books have created between the faithful and nonbelievers. "When the discourse is mocking or trying to score points for either side, I don't think it is helpful."

He said it's important to remember that God does not need to be defended.

Flynn predicts that the popularity of these books is the first step in a coming wave of atheist activism. "It took a very concentrated effort on behalf of the gay community to make people realize you know a gay person," Flynn said. "People realized, 'Hey, I have a gay co-worker, and they're fine.' We need to do that for the nonreligious."

jjarman@dispatch.com

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